So there we were, gathered at Sinai to hear our marching orders - how the Creator of the universe wanted us to live as a unique and holy nation among humanity. When the revelation ended, Moses presented it all in the form of an enormous ink-and-parchment scroll.
Rolling it open, we discovered something surprising.
Its opening - and rather hefty - section offers hardly any directives. Instead, it presents a tapestry of fascinating, perplexing narratives: the origins of existence and the formative experiences of our earliest ancestors.
Not Shabbat candles and kosher diets but a fruit-promoting serpent and a floating zoo. Not tefillin straps and mikveh waters but a fractured offering and an abducted matriarch. And the stories rarely resolve cleanly - they leave us questioning.
Why would the Author of a brilliant universe begin the Torah not with law but with story?
Because these are not introductions to the law. They are its foundation.
These narratives map the perspectives, tensions, attitudes, and inner dynamics that make a life of purpose possible. They are breathtaking in their depth - if we can uncover their “supernal truths and sublime secrets” and bring them to life.
Enter Next Genesis.
A seven-part journey into the early narratives of Genesis, uncovering layers of meaning - from ethical insight to mystical structure. The Torah does not only command - it educates and transforms. These stories are not accounts of what was but blueprints of what is.
They do not merely describe the first human beings - they describe the human being.
And they do not end in Genesis. They continue in every generation. In you.
G‑d is a Teacher par excellence and teaches through story as well as instruction. No detail is incidental. Every twist is deliberate. Each narrative shapes character, refines perspective, and guides choice.
This course brings those stories forward, transforming them from ancient accounts into personal encounters.
What began as a story will continue with you.
GENERATING A UNIVERSE
Living between the Trees
Human history is born in beauty - with trees and fruits, with clarity and mission. Enter Eden’s serenity to discover the driving purpose of Genesis, the roles of the human body and its soul in G‑d’s plan, and the relationship between corporeality and spirituality. Meet the first couple and, at the Garden’s center, a couple of trees bearing towering secrets of awareness and eternity.
ENGENDERING EVIL
Biting More Than Can Be Swallowed
A cosmic blunder that echoes today. A saga of a sin and a serpent’s seduction, broken apart to reveal depths of psychological and spiritual profundity. Meet the extraordinary capabilities and goodness of the first woman. Explore the roles of our own inner Eve and Adam. Encounter the tragedy and trajectory of human self-perception.
EMERGENT SHAME
Wrapping to Reveal, Laboring to Rise
Fig-leaf figures, leather outfits, and gleaming garb: Discover the origin and function of clothing. Watch the birth of shame. Discover the Divine design behind the struggles of life, from daily labor to labor pains. Penalties imposed in paradise become portals of purpose and repair. Eavesdrop on valuable guidance for your relationship with temptation.
DIVERGENCE
Mending the Rift between Sky and Soil
In the fallout of eviction from Eden, a brother became a bother and a sibling a slayer. Step into the intellectual chasm between sky and soil, where the rift between a shepherd and a cultivator erupts over a rejected gift. Delve into the early mechanics of jealousy, conflict, and crime, and meet the powers of self-control, remorse, and purposeful balance.
DEGENERATION
Harnessing Progress for Moral Greatness
A flood of wealth. An avalanche of societal advance. Visit the pre-Flood universe to view the roots of corruption and moral decay. Meet the first musician, early inventors, and pioneers of paganism. Discover the power of global immersion as a water treatment. Learn the key to meaningful redirection of assets and passions and the beauty of bonds of choice.
REGENERATING SOCIETY
Becoming a Beacon
A wooden ark in a world of water. Meet a man whose folded arms failed humanity and whose sleepless efforts saved it. Step onto the fresh soil of a softer world, where confidence sprouts more readily, where empathy, sacrifice, and vision transform weakness into success and indifference into outreach. Climb out of Noah’s isolation into the global embrace of Abraham.
CONVERGENCE
Living with the Creator
Meet a family that moved - and moved all of humanity. Learn the missing background of the first Jew: the dramatic decades of a global illuminator that was kept in the dark. Discover how to react to crisis, mishap, and setback. Collect the keys to soul fulfillment, and cross the bridge laid by Heaven that leads you to the Infinite.